Donación Pablo Picasso, 1979.
© Sucesión Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2023
Pending
The Musée Picasso in Antibes (France) is opening its doors to the exhibition Picasso 1969-1972: End of the Beginning, curated by Jean-Louis Andral, as part of the official programme of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023, an initiative promoted by the Musée national Picasso-Paris and the Spanish National Commission for the Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso.
The exhibition, available from 8 April to 25 June 2023, is made up of some of Picasso's last pictures painted between 1969 and 1972, such as Adolescente (1969), El Matador (1970) and Torero (1971). All of them are characterised by the use of bright colours and large formats. During this period, the artist revived characters such as bullfighters and musketeers.
The exhibition invites the visitor to appreciate how Picasso retained until his old age his great creative power and his skills as a colourist, which could already be seen in the exhibitions in Avignon (France), at the Palais des Papes, between 1970 and 1973.
Jean-Louis Andral, curator of the exhibition, stresses: "[Picasso] then rediscovered his first creative impulses, giving his art the greatest possible freedom of expression. Instead of losing his essence, as his detractors feared, in the last years of his life Picasso was highly creative, revealing a generous vitality and invention in perpetual metamorphosis, opening up painting to the dawn of new horizons".
The exhibition is part of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 programme, with more than fifty exhibitions and events, which will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pablo Picasso's death throughout 2023 in renowned cultural institutions in Europe and the United States.